Spiritual Discernment in the Diary of St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

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Spiritual Discernment in the Diary of St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775) YOUR EBOOK is brought to you by: Author: Passionist Nuns Company: St.Joseph Monastery Description: Whitesville, KY Web: www.passionistnuns.org Email: [email protected] Electronic Rights 2002 Copyright: Passionist Nuns, Whitesville, KY 42378 All Rights Reserved SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT IN THE DIARY OF ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS (1694-1775) by Fr. Gregor Lenzen, C.P. Provincial of the South German–Austrian Vice-Province of the Passionists with its seat in Munich. Translated from the German by Sandra Harper Electronic Rights 2004 – Passionist Nuns, Whitesville, KY 42378 All rights reserved Table Of Contents · About · Spiritual Discernment in the Diary of St. Paul of the Cross Author Fr. Gregor Lenzen, C.P. · CONTENTS · PART A Castellazzo - The Saint's "Novitiate" Preliminary History · II The Place of the Diary Place of the Diary in Paul's Spiritual Development / A second 'Manresa' · PART B The Spiritual Dynamic of the 40 Days at Castellazzo Searching for the Will of God · Development of New Mentality and Sensitivity 1. The Importance of the Affective Level / 2. The Means of Discernment · 3. Description and Judgement of Spiritual Movements a. Desolation / Introduction to Desolation / Negative Function / Positive Function · 3. Description and Judgement of spiritual movements continued a. Desolation cont'd / Purification / Transformation · 3. Description and Judgement of spiritual movements continued a. Desolation cont'd / Contemplation / Reparation · 3. Description and Judgement of spritual movements continued b. Consolation / The Eucharist as a source of consolation / The Gift of Tears / Mystical Phenomena / The effects of the Good Spirit with reference to the intellect / The effects of the Good Spirit with reference to the will · PART C "Memoria Passionis" - Contemplation and Mission I. The new sensitivity of the Cross / II. Apostle of the Crucified One · Primary Sources · Bibliography PART A Castellazzo - The Saint's "Novitiate" I. Preliminary History The Spiritual Diary of Paul Francis Danei, considered by Joseph De 1 Guibert "to be one of the classic texts of Catholic mysticism" [1], was the result of an inner spiritual process of which we shall now offer a brief outline. The young man whose document provides us with an insight into his interior life was born on 3 January 1694 in the Northern Italian town of Ovada near Alessandria. In order to support his large family, his father, Luca Danei, ran a small shop selling textiles and tobacco. After hearing a sermon in 1713 when he was 19 years old, Paul underwent his 'conversion'. From then on his only interest was in living for God. A plan to participate in a crusade against the Turks in 1716 fell through. Over the following years God increasingly revealed his true vocation to him through various inner inspirations. Paul was filled with a great desire "to withdraw into solitude, to wear a simple habit, to go barefoot, to live in extreme poverty - in short, by 2 the grace of God, to lead a life of penance". [2] The inspiration also drew him "to gather companions who would live together and devote themselves to 3 increasing the fear of God in souls". [3] The religious habit of the future community was also revealed to him in a sort of spiritual vision. He wanted to found a congregation "with the approval of Holy Mother Church" and to 4 name it "The Poor of Jesus". [4] The 26-year-old was embarking upon a journey but exactly where this would lead was still unclear. He left home on 22 November 1720 and on that same day, in the Bishop's private chapel, he was clothed in a black penitential garment by Monsignor Gattinara of Alessandria, Paul's confessor and spiritual adviser. The bishop ordered him to withdraw into solitude and to note down the inner movements of his soul. He was also to write the Rule of the proposed congregation. The diary entries recording his 40-day retreat at the church of St. Charles in Castellazzo begin on 23 November 1720. This valuable document - written as a basis for Monsignor Gattinara's own discernment process regarding Paul's vocation - is also a compelling witness to the spiritual discernment and decisions of a human being in existential dialogue with God. II. The Place of the Diary in Paul's Spiritual Development Process Looking at these forty days in their entirety they represent the classic framework of a preparatory period before a special mission. The small uninviting storeroom off the sacristy of St. Charles symbolizes the archetype of the "desert" which is to be found in various forms in the life of every prophet and founder figure. For Paul Francis Danei the "desert" of Castellazzo provided the necessary conditions for finally working out his vocation. His model for this was to be found in his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who had spent forty days and forty nights in the desert (cf. Matthew 4, 1-11) before appearing in public for the first time. Like Jesus, Paul Francis had also been led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to find his way in the "discernment of spirits". Constantly faithful to the model of his Lord, the young hermit tried to keep his soul vigilant and alert by fasting. The Tempter troubled him greatly during those days and nights and plunged him into a state of desolation and fear. It was then a question of "coping with himself as he endured the nights of 5 the conscious and unconscious so as to truly conquer his human condition" [1], as Josef Ratzinger writes in the preface to the German edition of the Diary. The reader witnesses a dialogue between God and Paul. The Saint gives us a continuous and very precise description of his various thoughts and feelings, in other words of the "conditions of his soul" that affected him during those 40 days. From this point of view the Diary is the most important written source coming from the pen of the great mystic. It deals with probably the most decisive phase of his journey. In the constant fluctuation between consolation and desolation Paul completed the inner process which had already begun in his early childhood. The solitary struggle with God formed his spiritual identity which was to be so characteristic of his 6 later thinking and work. [2] III. A second "Manresa" A short comparison with the figure of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491- 1556) may perhaps be permitted here. Castellazzo closely resembled the Manresa experience which the founder of the Jesuits later called his "primitive 7 church" or "novitiate". [3] On 25 March 1522 Ignatius had come to the small 8 Catalan town to "make a few notes in the book which he kept with him". [4] He stayed there for eleven months. His inner life at that time ranged from 'the 9 depths of dreadful desolation to the heights of mystical experience'. [5] These ambivalent experiences provided the basis for the now classic 'Rules for the Discernment of Spirits'. The spiritual enlightenment granted to him on the River Cardoner enabled him to see everything with new insight. That 'grace of all graces' showed him the new direction of his life's path. Fr. Stanislaus says about Paul of the Cross, "St. Ignatius could say that even if the whole Bible did not exist, he wouldn't have lost anything after the heavenly visions he saw at Manresa and can we not believe the same of 10 Paul of the Cross who was given a similar mission?" [6] The experiences of the hermit of Castellazzo show similar characteristics to those of the pilgrim of Manresa. "Castellazzo" and "Manresa" both symbolize a fundamental experience. They describe the place of an intense encounter with God that led to the recognition of a personal mission in the Church PART B. The Spiritual Dynamic of the 40 days at Castellazzo I. Searching for the Will of God In the opening entry St. Paul of the Cross sounds the characteristic tone of the whole Diary when he writes, "that the most holy will of our dear God is 11 being fulfilled.' [1] The Saint here is laying the foundations for an authentic process of spiritual discernment, the aim of which finally was always to do the will of God. Marcel Viller SJ, in his study "La volonté de Dieu dans les lettres de S. 12 Paul de la Croix" [2], showed us how firmly the great mystic’s search for the will of God was rooted in his spiritual teaching. In this study Viller describes Paul as a man of his time who “inherited a very strong spiritual tradition still 13 not sufficiently studied, the tradition of abandonment”. [3] The kindly Bishop of Geneva, St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), “who marks the starting point of 14 the spirituality of abandonment" [4] stands out amongst the followers of this tradition. Fr. Francis Anthony Capriata OFMCap, one of Paul's companions as a young man, witnesses to Francis de Sales' influence on Paul. "…I received instruction from Paul in the ways of mental prayer, purgative, illuminative and unitive; I remember that, in almost every detail, he followed the teaching of St. Francis de Sales which he knew very 15 well." [5] The central position of the will of God in the spirituality of St. Paul of the Cross must therefore be considered in relation to the influence of St. Francis de Sales "to whom is owed the first and therefore the most decisive 16 and important phase of his formation." [6] Thus the Passionist founder stands alongside Ignatius of Loyola who was described as "a man of the will of 17 God" [7], although each had his own way of fulfilling that will, as Viller's article clearly shows.
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